As the craze of earnings season draws to a close, here's a look back at some of the most exciting (and some less so) results from Q4. Today we are looking at the semiconductor manufacturing stocks, starting with Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL).
The semiconductor industry is driven by demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers and data storage. The growth of data and technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G networks and smart cars are also creating a next wave of growth for the industry. To keep up with ever changing customer needs requires new tools that can design, fabricate and test at ever smaller sizes and more complex architectures, and that is driving the demand for semiconductor capital manufacturing equipment.
The 14 semiconductor manufacturing stocks we track reported a slower Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.62%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 3.47% above consensus. Tech multiples have reverted to the historical mean after reaching all time levels in early 2021, but semiconductor manufacturing stocks held their ground better than others, with share prices down 0.79% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Weakest Q4: Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Moving away from a low margin storage device management chips in one of the biggest semiconductor business model pivots of the past decade, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a fabless designer of special purpose data processing and networking chips used by data centers, communications carriers, enterprises, and autos.
Marvell Technology reported revenues of $1.42 billion, up 5.62% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in operating margin.
"Marvell delivered record revenue of $5.92 billion in fiscal 2023, growing 33 percent year over year driven by strong growth from cloud, 5G, auto and enterprise networking. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, we achieved revenue of $1.419 billion, growing 6 percent year over year, above the midpoint of guidance, driven by better-than-forecasted results from our datacenter end market," said Matt Murphy, Marvell's President and CEO.
The stock is down 6.58% since the results and currently trades at $43.14.
Read our full report on Marvell Technology here, it's free.
Best Q4: Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)
Headquartered in Israel, Nova (NASDAQ: NVMI) is a provider of quality control systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.
Nova reported revenues of $151.2 million, up 24.5% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.31%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with very optimistic guidance for the next quarter and a significant improvement in inventory levels.
The stock is up 16.4% since the results and currently trades at $106.19.
Is now the time to buy Nova ? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)
With most major chip manufacturers as customers, Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) is a US-based supplier of automated test equipment for semiconductors as well as other technology and devices.
Teradyne reported revenues of $731.8 million, down 17.3% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.81%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and underwhelming guidance for the next quarter.
The stock is up 3.8% since the results and currently trades at $107.41.
Read our full analysis of Teradyne's results here.
Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC)
Headquartered in Singapore, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) is a provider of production equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices
Kulicke and Soffa reported revenues of $176.2 million, down 61.8% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 0.15%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and underwhelming guidance for the next quarter.
Kulicke and Soffa had the slowest revenue growth among the peers. The stock is down 1.81% since the results and currently trades at $52.69.
Read our full, actionable report on Kulicke and Soffa here, it's free.
IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP)
Both a designer and manufacturer of most of its products, IPG Photonics (NASDAQ:IPGP) is a provider of high-performance fiber lasers that are used for cutting, welding and processing raw materials.
IPG Photonics reported revenues of $333.5 million, down 8.49% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 4.95%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and operating margin.
The stock is up 9.53% since the results and currently trades at $123.31.
Read our full, actionable report on IPG Photonics here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned